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The NHS’s ‘remarkable people doing extraordinary things’ named in New Year’s Honours list

In the NHS’s 70th year, dozens of NHS staff have been recognised in the 2019 New Year’s Honours list, including 15 leading nurses, an array of doctors, dentists, physiotherapists and other health professionals, and those who led the response to terror attacks and major incidents.

The awards include OBEs for Dr Malik Ramadhan, who was in charge of the A&E at the Royal London hospital in Whitechapel on the night of the London Bridge terror attack; Paul Woodrow, who as Director of Operations for the London Ambulance Service also played a leading role in ensuring victims of the attacks in London and Grenfell fire received swift care; and Colin Kelsey, who led the NHS response to the Manchester Arena bombing.

Peter Boorman, who as lead for Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR) for NHS England in London helped coordinate the NHS’s response to the terrorist attacks on Westminster and London Bridge, the Grenfell fire, the Croydon tram crash and the Wannacry cyber-attack is also awarded an OBE.

England’s outgoing chief nurse, Professor Jane Cummings, is one of the many awardees from a nursing background, receiving a CBE for her contribution to the NHS over the course of her career.

Kate Davies, the NHS’s lead on care for armed forces veterans and victims of sexual assault, has also received recognition for her work to improve services for some of the most vulnerable groups, while the NHS’s national leaders on mental health care, diabetes and obesity, heart disease and innovation – topics which will feature heavily in the upcoming NHS Long Term Plan – will join her in being invited to Buckingham Palace to pick up honours over the coming months.

NHS England chair, Lord Prior, said: “These are remarkable people doing extraordinary things for their fellow citizens. The NHS is a unique organisation which has won the hearts and minds of all of us for over 70 years, but its success depends wholly on the people who work in it. Those who have been honoured for their service this year honour us all. Many, many congratulations to them.”

Professor Jonathan Valabhji, National Clinical Director for Diabetes and Obesity

Professor Tony Young, National Clinical Director for Innovation

Margaret Kitching, Chief Nurse for the North region, was also awarded an MBE.

The NHS England contingent are among dozens of NHS and other health and care staff and volunteers recognised in the 2019 New Year’s Honours list, including:

15 leading nurses, including Michelle McLoughlin, the Director of Nursing at Birmingham Women and Children’s Hospital, and specialists in cancer and mental health care;

Lisa Beaumont, a therapeutic and specialist play manager at Leeds General Infirmary who manages the Leeds Children’s Transplant Team in the British and World Transplant Games;

Professor Simon Kay, a surgeon based in Leeds who pioneered hand and upper arm transplants, which are now available on the NHS, and;

Dr Trudi Seneviratne, a leading psychiatrist based at South London and Maudsley Trust and specialising in providing care for new mums suffering from post-natal depression and other mental health problems.

The strong showing for NHS staff at both local and national level follows the Queen’s Birthday Honours earlier in the year, which saw 64 awards go to health professionals across the country, ranging from long-serving midwives to the Chief Scientific Officer, Professor Dame Sue Hill.